Dave & Buster's Sets IPO Price At $12-$14 A Share

DALLAS -- Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc. reported that it expects to price its initial public offering at $12 to $14 a share. The Dallas-based operator of big box arcade-restaurant stores will offer 7.7 million shares, not including the 1.15 million additional shares available to underwriters if they want them.

Dave & Busters was founded in 1982 and owns 59 stores in North America and has a franchisee in Canada. The average store open more than a year brought in $9.8 million in fiscal 2011.

Not unlike many amusement businesses, Dave & Buster's has had net losses in each of the past three fiscal years, so it's been developing smaller, less expensive store formats to offset expansion costs.

Dave & Buster's traded publicly between 1997 and 2006, when it was bought by a holding company operated by Wellspring Capital Partners and HBK Main Street Investors for $257 million. In 2010, the business was sold for $570 million to Oak Hill Capital Management, which will own a 68.3% stake in the company once it goes public. At the proposed pricing range, the company could be valued as high as $395 million.

Dave & Buster's will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker PLAY.